clean eating

So I’m so very happy that it’s Tuesday. I’m sick and I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that I have to do today. And I intend to do just that. I’m pooped. I’ve been working a lot of days but shorter shifts. It’s a lot more time getting ready and a lot more driving time. I’m trying to be nice and accommodating but I’m tired…and now sick. It’s gonna be a long month!!

I’m looking into my garden already!! I have spring fever like no other!! ☀️☀️☀️☀️I’m reading a book for beginners and their first year of gardening. Also I have a set of PURPLE gardening tools, ergonomically correct of course! 😜 I know what I want to plant and where, oh I’m just so excited!! I think a garden will do me good! My Love is just letting me run with it for now. 🌻🌷🍃🌱🥒🍆🌶🍅

I am getting back on track I hope with blogging. 💜🖋📓 Consistency is a struggle of mine. I’ll just have to work at it!! I try to do too much then I crap out and get mad at myself. Silly isn’t it?! Anyhow I’m 2 weeks in a row! It’s a streak!!

A little couponing, some reading, resting and some snuggle time with My Love and my pup. A day off well spent.

We had dinner plans with a friend of mine and her hubby Saturday night. We requested that the place have a patio and it did with an extra added bonus of some live music! Score! We didn’t talk about work or stress, just lots of laughs and great company! We said that we’d get together next month and I’m making sure that we make plans!! Next thing you know, a year’s gone by…time flies like that.

Sunday we had a super chill day and just let the relaxation happen. We truly enjoyed the day and it was well needed!!!

So I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of all of this clutter…yeah it’s magazines and papers…and being a networker…damn business cards! Luckily I have a better online store to shop with so the coupons are all gone! However, the magazines still remain. I’m still working on my Dream board with all of the magazines I have to go through. Goal #8 (the others are coming). Anyway, I’m trying to do it as I go, just always have something in my hands to throw out. I’ve gone though the pile on the coffee table, however it may have just moved to the arm of the couch…damn my hoarding tendencies. (Thanks Nana)

As far as my week….my health is cooperating so that is a big plus! I only had a couple of workouts and our eating was pretty good so I’m happy with all of that. This week I’m hitting it hard with my goals and I’m determined to get some awesome losses on the scale! Sometimes you’re the one being led and sometimes you’re doing the leading in any relationship. This is also true of My Love and I’s fitness routine. Sometimes he’s the bad ass one and sometimes I’m the one doing the nudging. Today starts my not so gentle prodding toward the fitness room. 🙂 We have goals and wants on the scale and in the jeans. I say this after my first workout of the week is under my belt. ❤ I’m scheduling in my workouts so they are part of my daily To-Do’s. It’s easier to accomplish because I have classes that I’m taking. On yoga days I’d love to potentially get in some cardio with My Love…let’s see how that plays out. How do you all do your workouts? My Bestie will get up before work at like 5AM…please believe that you will NEVER see me get up at 5 AM for anything unless it’s a flight. She does have a house full of 3 boys, a big dumb dog (Sorry Ted) and a hubby. She gets her alone time in with her workout. To anyone who does this: YOU’RE AWESOME! Now me on the other hand…I’m doing good to get there for 10:30 🙂 I’m improving, it was 1:00PM 🙂

I proclaimed my goals for the week on Facebook so I’ll just proclaim them again:

1.Workout 4X

2. Eat clean 80% of the time

3. Read at least 3 days

4. 3 Networking events

5. Make calls 3 days

6. Audio books 3 days

Those are some big goals…do people in general not set goals because they’re a call to action? Maybe they’re not into disappointment when they’re not achieved? I like them so I reach high…even if I miss one at least I’m a whole bunch closer than I would’ve been if I just coasted….my just go with the flow doesn’t get too much accomplished…that’s why I make goals. 🙂

I feel guilty that I don’t have any pictures for you this week…the puppy is getting bigger by the minute. She’s 11 weeks 🙂

Clean eating and consistent workouts have us seeing some pretty nice weights on the scale! I think my thyroid medication is FINALLY where it needs to be. I’m feeling better, more productive energy (so I know it’s not mania) and just overall sense of wellbeing. We’ve been working hard and it is starting to show! Just little changes here and there but they’re really nice to see 🙂 I’m starting to reclaim my neck and my tummy is down a lot! My face is getting back to having cheek bones…oh thank goodness!!!

I got my new 31 bags!!! I’ve been dying to get some for years and since I’m in a new business why not get a new bag? Or 2 since the second one was only $5.00 🙂 They seem to be lucky since I did have a new signup with my new bag! I’m truly enjoying my new “job”!! I love network marketing! My company is 30 years old and a billion dollar company. I really get paid repeatedly for the work I do. What’s better than that??

Did you see the pic of the grill? It was our dinner last night! Grilled zucchini, squash, asparagus and onions with yummy grilled salmon…come on that’s SO DELICIOUS!! We had so much and it was so calorie friendly! 🙂 🙂 YES PLEASE!!

Are you on My Fitness Pal? If you are, let’s be friends! chrissipenney

Finally, the part you are curious about…WE GOT A PUPPY!!!! She’s super cool and her name is Bailey ❤ She’s a biter!! She’s learning though! Patience is key with a puppy, so I’ve been told. We got her from Colorado Puppy Rescue in Aurora, CO. She’s 8 weeks old, and a black lab mix. She makes my heart happy. She’s fresh fresh fresh but I adore her already! My Love and I went to an adoption event at the rescue yesterday because we had seen that she was there on Petfinder.com. I wanted a rescue, My Love wanted a lab…BOOM!! We both get what we want in one tiny little bundle of joy! Our lives are changing super quick…responsibility will do that…especially with a tiny bladdered chomper. Luckily we both work from home, one of us will be here most of the time. We’re looking for all the puppy stuff now, like dog parks puppy play dates, trainers, puppy hotels and a vet. I’ve always been a cat person so this whole thing is new to me. I’ve figured it out pretty quickly. Puppy gates will be up so I can open the door and get some more fresh air in for us. She really is freakin adorable ❤ I’m also excited to live in Colorado with a dog…SOOOOO many adventures waiting for us! Hikes all over the place! Also the walking of the pup gives me more steps per day. Definitely a fitness PLUS!!! I’ve also seem that Labs are a high energy breed so Bailey will be appreciative for some hiking and walking trail ways and paths. Super excited to watch little miss Bailey grow and stop biting my hands and feet 🙂 Love her to pieces already!! My Love and I are really happy with our little addition!!! She rocks!!

I hope you all have a super great week!! Kick some booty in whatever your goals are for the week! I am going to work out 4 times, eat clean 80% of the time, go to 2 networking events and do my calls every day. Also I’m going to find puppy people for my little love Bailey. We will dog park it a few days and hike 2 times. I’ve got to get the pup pooped out, we need her to sleep 🙂 (She’s sleeping soundly in front of the closet on the kitchen floor now…she has a nice bed…hey whatever works right?!)

I was thinking of you all yesterday as I made my way home to the Mile High City 🙂

Boston was amazing to me as usual!! My Love made it there for the big party weekend!!!!!

My Peanut was the best birthday girl!!! She loves the attention 🙂 She lovessss me!!! We had so much fun this past week! We were silly, we played, we snuggled, she slept with me for a birthday sleepover. I ATE IT UP!!! I love that she loves me so much 🙂 I will do anything in my power to keep it like this forever!! (I know it won’t always be this awesome, she will eventually grow up and be too cool for me)

I had my longed for cheats: a banana split, really really good Italian, and as much seafood as we could!! Now I’m back on track tomorrow. Today we rest.

Do my bipolar friends have trouble with jet lag? I’ve been finding that I’m cycling up and down more frequently and I have more trouble adjusting. I wasn’t too up or down but I did have a couple of zombie days. I rallied though!!! All the more reason to have a day of rest, no guilt.

I had a travel headache but it was GONE by Wednesday morning! Thank you Denver Neurological for your Botox miracle!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

So what do you all have for your goals this week? I’m planning on 5 calls a day for my business. I have 1 guest for my Friday ladies lunch already and I’m hoping to add at least a second one. I will do 30 minutes at least of an audio book, because they need to get out of my phone. 🙂 I’m also going to do 30 minutes of physical book reading since I have at least 2 books going right now. In addition to this I’m going to add a second blog post for the week. 2 posts a week!! Do you want a recipe? A book recommendation? Pictures? Some healthy hints…please comment under the post!! I’m here for you to come on my crazy journey of healthy living and Winning the Day every day!

Some cheats, a hawk in the garden and Birthday Party Bonfire with beers and great people!!!

I’ve been a bit off for the past week and a half, but who doesn’t have their off days? Mine just lasted a little longer 🙂 I’ve also had a headache this week. BUT I did rally and hit the gym today. Like they say in the fitness world: Never miss more than 3 days in a row. I have to workout every day until the end of the week to hit my 4 workouts this week, but it’s totally do-able.

We’ve been making some absolutely delicious food! We had chicken and broccoli stir fry last night, and turkey and quinoa stuffed peppers the night before…yummm!! I’ll have to learn how to add them and give credit for them 🙂 We’re doing 1-2 shakes, smoothies or Advocare Meal Replacement (I’m LOVING the vanilla right now!!!) and then a super clean dinner.

So, today is my anniversary with My Love!!! 4 years of insane happiness!!! I took a leap of faith to move to Colorado from Boston to take a chance on love with My Love…and I’ve literally never been happier!! ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ He makes me smile when I’m full of tears. He’s my backbone when mine is away. He’s my better half, my life, my world, my why. He’s my accountability partner in our adventure to get fit. I’ve set my goal to FIT@40 and I know I’ve got this!!! We’re a great influence on each other now that we’re serious in taking this journey all the way!! I can’t wait to see our results at the end of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge!! Today is day 17! It’s coming up, I’d better get to work!!!

We’re indulging in sushi galore tonight. We’ll make any healthy swaps we can: limiting or omitting crunchy rolls, using brown rice, getting sashimi…we’ll experiment and see what we can do. There’s no wrong answer with sushi! I just love love love sushi!!!

I had a meeting with a great gal who is a Life Coach. We were chatting and she is SO HELPFUL!!!! I spilled my guts and told her information that she needed to make an assessment for me. The outcome was: I need to do what makes me happy. If I’m doing something that I’m not happy with, I won’t be successful. I was kind of in a “DUR!!!” moment. It seems so simple, why was I having trouble? Dur Chrissi!

So all in all I’m a happy, happy gal! Madly in love, living the good life! I’m am so blessed! Thank you Universe!!!

Do you celebrate Easter? or Passover? Our Easter was very untraditional this year!!! We enjoyed the day with some Laundry and Paleo turkey meatloaf with cauliflower mashed, and we got silly with lemon water! Yup we’re out of control.

So today is Day 9 of our 10 Day Herbal Cleanse by Advocare. We are machines right now!! We truly needed a good swift kick in the butt and this did it, FINALLY! We have worked out 6 out of 9 days!! We have a lot of good stuff going right now! Clean eating to the extreme…no sugar no dairy and no grains! It’s not even hard really. Fruit is candy for us…I’m about to have some candy in a minute…well, pineapple 🙂

The next part of the Challenge is the burn phase: replenishing all of the vitamins and nutrients that we cleansed out MINUS THE CRAP!!! We’re staying on the track as clean as we are right now. We’re each others accountability partners for the good right now and moving forward. No more shenanigans!!! Well I’m not going to lie and say we’ll never eat a pizza or never drink a beer…that’s not living! BUT we will eat clean and we will train hard. A cheat meal here and there is fine but it will not be the norm anymore! We have too much that we want to be holding ourselves back by being uncomfortable in our clothes. As of yesterday I was down almost 5 pounds. I’ll take it, it’s a huge step in the RIGHT direction!!!

I love that we can be so great together on all fronts!! My Love is my world!!! We got chubby together so now we’ll get strong together!!!

We celebrated My Love’s birthday in Vegas a couple of weeks ago and we didn’t go crazy, thank goodness! It’s just been so crazy for us for the past couple of months…this whole year so far really. My Dad’s passing in January, Florida for my birthday in February, March brought a bunch of business travel for My Love and our Boston trip, and finally our Vegas adventure for My Love’s birthday at the beginning of this month…and trying to get back to normal…our new normal…..CLEAN EATING!! We aren’t traveling, well let’s say I’m not traveling, for a couple of months. I’m going to take it and use it to my benefit. Ass kicking in concentration!!! Make some great habits that I’ll be able to take on the road in July to Boston for my little Peanut’s 7th birthday…my goodness. That little girl…oh man I can’t even begin to get going on her…she IS my happy place ❤ ❤ ❤ My niece!! I never knew true, unwavering, unconditional love until she was born. I was instantly mush and so over the moon about her. Another post for another time 🙂

Anyway, we are adapting very well! My “rest day” was cleaning the house today, and I still got a good workout in scrubbing! I’ll be glad to get to the gym tomorrow…the machines are calling me. I’m kicking it up to cardio and weights…no more slacking!! This week has been up and down with my days and my BiPolar Disorder. When I change anything in my schedules I get a little tipsy. Nothing that I can’t handle with a little extra eye on me from My Love. He really is THE GREATEST GUY EVERRRRRRRR!!!!! Ladies eat your heart out!! 🙂

On another note: I am so very proud of where I’m from!!! Boston has rallied yet once again!!! Never count us out!! Boston Strong is a total and complete understatement!!! What a difference a year makes!!! I am Boston Proud!

Leave me some love so I know you were here!!! I’ll follow you back!

Here’s what I’m working hard for now so in July, yum…Boston lobsters!!! COME TO ME!!!!

I just got a notification that it was my 1st blogging anniversary….I have 27 followers, so that’s awesome!

That being said…I’m struggling!!! I have no idea what to do to get more people to cheer me on in my journey. My journey is that of getting fitness and clean eating to be just part of me; for it to be my lifestyle.…in addition to that I have about 50 pounds to lose. Poor choices and medication have landed me in this boat, so now it’s up to me and only me to fix it. Lastly in my journey are my health challenges…I have chronic, severe migraines and I have Bipolar Disorder. This balancing act keep me challenged all the time. I’m building my business, hitting the gym, eating clean, and trying to figure out blogging…oh and best of all I am happy in my relationship with My Love!!

So what do I need to do? More pictures? Recipes? I think I may have to consult YouTube…it has everything right? 🙂

So on other topics, I have my favorite Ladies Night of the month tonight! A little networking, a little martini, repeat 🙂 I have a few friends that go and we all chat and make connections to catch up with after the event. It’s the best way I have to build my business since I do not have a “real job” or school aged kids. Tonight the Diva drink of the night is My Love’s 2 companies: Top Shelf Mixers and Snova Vodka!!! Martinis!!!

My Love is also working out his final shifts at the stupid casino…4 more!!!

We will be road tripping to Michigan for Christmas…we couldn’t be happier! My Love has missed Christmases with his family for the past 8 years…not this year!!!

So…I’m restating my goals for my blog and my life…I know, it’s not January yet. I’m starting to dig in and give it hell for the rest of the month…start the new year already in the groove. Why not right? I’m spreading seeds for my business, eating better, hitting the gym and recommitting to my blog lovers…leave me a comment, like it, follow me…I like it all! Thanks friends!!